Where to Steel?

Although life has changed for me "After Steel" - once in a while I still find time to read news about steel. Here is one that caught my eye from Reuters.

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FACTBOX-Production cuts by major global steel firms
Tue Jan 06 10:09:12 UTC 2009 Jan 6 (Reuters) -

Following is a timeline of announcements of output reductions made by steel companies in recent weeks:

• Jan 6 - South Korea's POSCO Co Ltd <005490.ks>, the world's No. 4 steelmaker, said it might cut steel production further in the current quarter.
• Dec 29 - Severstal, , Russia's largest steel maker, said it had idled a blast furnace at its Cherepovets Steel Mill. Blast Furnace No. 1 normally produces about 1.1 million tonnes of pig iron per year. Company said move in line with previously announced cuts.
• Dec 25 - Japan's JFE Steel Co, the world's third-largest steel maker, and a unit of JFE Holdings <5411.t>, said it would cut its steel output by 26 percent in the Oct-Mar second half from the first half. Halt will lead to total production output of 11.5 million tonnes in H2 from 15 million tonnes in H1.
• Dec 23 - Thainox Stainless PCL , Thailand's largest stainless steel producer, says planning to stop its production for one month due to weak global demand.
• Dec 19 - ThyssenKrupp may slash crude steel output from February if demand remains weak. A decision on cutting production from typically 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes per day would come in January.
• Dec 18 - Russian steelmaker Mechel said it plans to cut steel product output by 20-25 percent in 2009.
• Dec 18 - POSCO said it would cut steel production by 200,000 tonnes in December and 370,000 tonnes in January. The South Korean company produces around 2.75 million tonnes of crude steel a month and the cuts average out at around 10 percent of monthly production and 2 percent of annual output.
• Dec 9 - Steelmaker Nucor Corp said it has had "dramatically lower production rates" in the fourth quarter, while average steel mill utilization is expected to be only slightly above 50 percent.
• Dec 5 - Ukraine's Dneprovsky steel plant cut crude steel output by 13 percent to 2.993 million tonnes in January-November 2008 compared with 3.437 million in the same period in 2007.
• Dec 4 - The largest steelmaker in Peru, Aceros Arequipa , said it has halted production for one month and will move up planned maintenance work.
• Dec 3 - Mexico's third-largest steel producer Altos Hornos de Mexico, AHMSA, is cutting 12,000 jobs and slashing production.
• Dec 3 - Ukrainian steel maker Azovstal, which has suspended pig iron production in one of its five blast furnaces due to a fall in steel demand, said it cut steel output in January-November by 7.9 percent against 2007. Dec 2 - United States Steel Corp said it would idle three plants over the next several weeks to bring production in line with weakened demand for steel. Nov 26 - Specialty steel maker SSAB said it would accelerate a plan to shut one of its blast furnaces for one month of repairs, part of a wider effort to scale back production as demand has fallen.
• Nov 25 - The world's second largest long-rolled steel producer, Brazil's Gerdau , expects output to fall by a quarter in the last three months of 2008 amid cooling demand and maintenance at its plants.
• Nov 25 - Taiwan's biggest steel maker China Steel <2002.tw> said it planned to reduce output by about 10 percent next year on scheduled maintenance.
• Nov 25 - ThyssenKrupp, one of the world's leading producers of stainless steel, will extend the Christmas holiday break at its largest stainless cold-rolled unit, Germany's Nirosta.
• Nov 25 - The world's second-largest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp <5401.t> said it would double its planned production cut for the October-March period to 12 percent from the first half in response to slowing demand.
• Nov 20 - Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine said due to a slowdown in demand from the auto industry, it expects to cut steel output by between 3-5 percent by March 2009.
• Nov 20 - JFE Steel Corp, the world's third-biggest steelmaker, said it plans to cut output by 9.6 percent, or 1.5 million tonnes, in the October-March second half from the first half to cope with a decline in demand from automakers and other customers.
• Nov 14 - Russia's Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) said that it was idling two blast furnaces and reducing its planned investment programme in the wake of the global financial crisis.
• Nov 11 - U.S. steelmaker AK Steel said it has temporarily idled some of its operations in Ohio and Kentucky, citing the global downturn's effect on demand for its products used in the auto industry.
• Nov 10 - Swedish specialty steel maker SSAB has cut output at a top strip product site in Sweden and is considering other cuts as it grapples with a downturn in demand.
• Nov 7 - Corus, Europe's second largest steelmaker, decided to extend the production cuts it announced last month beyond December. The company, owned by India's Tata Steel , in October announced plans to cut crude steel production by up to 20 percent or 1 million tonnes over the next three months due to slowing demand.
• Nov 7 - JSW Steel Ltd , India's third biggest producer, said it would cut total steel production by 20 percent from November.
• Nov 6 - Salzgitter AG to cut output in flat steel and construction section by 30 percent in December and January.
• Nov 5 - ArcelorMittal , the world's largest steelmaker, announced a temporary output cut of 30 percent, from an initial 15 percent cut, as it forecasts a weaker final quarter.
• Nov 4 - Baosteel Group, China's largest steel maker, to cut output in December by delaying reopening a blast furnace that was shut for maintenance, as it faces weak demand.
• Oct 31 - Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren trims its steel plate production target for FY09 by 43 percent and will not produce commercial grade plates for sale due to lower prices.
• Oct 30 - Russian steel maker Evraz Group to cut production at its domestic mills by about a quarter from November due to the global financial crisis.
• Oct 27 - Bhushan Steel Ltd has cut production of galvanised steel by 20-30 percent due to a slowdown in demand. Galvanised steel accounts for up to 25 percent of the firm's sales.
• Oct. 23 - Nippon Steel Corp <5401.t>, the world's second-biggest steelmaker, considers output cuts from November due to weakening demand. Steel orders fell 5.4 percent in August, the first year-on-year decline in 28 months.
• Oct. 13 - Emirates Steel Industries, the largest steel plant in the UAE, halts its production in the third week of October, on account of oversupply in the market, even as the inventory in UAE stood at 2 million tonnes in excess.
• Oct. 10 - Severstal slashes its production for this month by 25-30 percent at plants in Russia, Italy and the U.S.
• Oct. 9 - Ukraine's biggest steel mill, owned by Arcelor Mittal , reduces steel output by 10.5 percent to 5.471 million tonnes.
• Oct. 9 - Zaporozhstal, Ukraine's leading steel maker, reduces liquid steel output by 5.1 percent to 3.205 million tonnes.
• Oct. 8 - Shougang Group, Hebei Iron & Steel Group, Anyang Iron & Steel and Shandong Iron & Steel, state-owned firms that produce nearly a fifth of China's steel, agree to cut output by between 10 and 20 percent, due to a decline in steel prices.
• Oct. 7 - Magnitogorsk, Russia's third-largest steel maker, cuts its October schedule for rolled steel production by at least 15 percent to 850,000 tonnes.

(Compiled by Carl Bagh; Editorial Reference Unit Bangalore and Humeyra Pamuk in London, Editing by Peter Blackburn)

Source : Reuters